Dartmouth Alumni Association Election Results: Record Number of Alumni Voters Elect New Association Leaders Committed to Ending Lawsuit against College

HANOVER, NH - The Dartmouth College Office of Alumni Relations today announced that a record number of Dartmouth alumni voted to elect new leadership of the Association of Alumni (AoA) committed to ending a lawsuit against the College.

Every member of the "Unity" slate of candidates for the eleven-member executive committee was elected with approximately 60 percent of the votes cast. With 24,940 ballots cast, a record number of Dartmouth College's more than 60,000 alumni participated in the election, approximately 38 percent.

"Dartmouth alumni have expressed their support for ending the lawsuit against the College and pursuing a more collaborative and productive approach to governance," said David Spalding, Dartmouth's Vice President for Alumni Relations, who was reelected secretary-treasurer of the Association."The unprecedented participation in this year's AoA election reflects the great passion alumni have for Dartmouth and their strong commitment to doing what's best for its students."

The following alumni were elected. Their vote totals are in parentheses. (N) designates candidates nominated by the AoA Nominating Committee. (P) represents petition candidates.

Alumni voted to accept the proposed change to the association constitution that was included on the election ballot by a vote of 19,821 "yes" to 3,017 "no", an 86 percent margin of victory.The amendment required a two-thirds supermajority of voting alumni to pass.The amendment includes a provision for all-media voting in the association constitution.This provision formerly appears in variable association voting guidelines.

Approximately 16,397 ballots were cast online (66 percent), 8,543 ballots (34 percent) were voted by paper, including 65 cast in-person today. Balloting began April 28, 2008, and closed at midnight June 5 for receipt of online and mailed ballots.

The vote count was administered by TrueBallot Inc., (TBI), an independent election administration company that ensures the security, accuracy, and impartiality of association and other types of elections. TBI was contracted by the Association of Alumni and Dartmouth College to manage all balloting, ballot counting, personal email reminders, and in-person voting.

For more information about the 2008 Dartmouth Association of Alumni election please visit www.voxthevote.org

The Dartmouth Association of Alumni's primary role is to run the annual meeting of the Association and related elections. The organization is distinct from the Alumni Council, which has a much broader role to act as principal communications vehicle between alumni and the College. The Council is made up of nearly 120 representatives of Dartmouth's alumni classes, clubs, and affiliated groups, as well as faculty and undergraduate student members. On a 6-3 vote, the prior leadership of the Association voted to bring a lawsuit in October 2007 against the College to block measures the Board of Trustees approved in September 2007 to strengthen the governance of the College.